Big cats are my favorite subject to draw. They’re elegant and powerful, and their body has a simple, yet beautiful rhythm. Today, I’d like to show you how to draw a tiger—from the “skeleton” and muscles to the fur, details, and stripes. I will lead you step by step, so that you can follow me at your own pace without getting lost.

They say the eyes are the mirror to the soul, and it’s not just true about humans. The eyes of animals, no matter how different, speak volumes about the creature’s personality and emotions. Because of this, it’s not so easy to draw eyes that look both realistic and alive, especially when you can’t use a reference.

You can remember them from your childhood—Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Disney’s Robin Hood… All these walking and talking animals that are so human-like that you start treating them like humans. These characters are anthropomorphic: they’re basically animals with their bodies modified to resemble humans both in the way of moving and in their general behavior.

For me, a deer is the symbol of autumn—the time when the males of this timid species turn into the real kings of the forest, with a crown of antlers on their heads. Of all the deer species, my favorite is the red deer—not as big as a moose, but more regal looking.

Arachnophobia is probably the most popular phobia: the fear of spiders. In a sense, it’s not an irrational fear. After all, many spiders are venomous! However, most of them are not harmful to humans, and they do not actively seek contact with us. A spider sitting on its web poses no danger to you, and if know it but you still feel uneasy about it, desensitization therapy may be good for you. Drawing a spider can be a part of it!

In this tutorial I will show you how to draw a realistic horse step by step, without any reference. You’ll learn how to build its body out of simple shapes, and how to add all the details. And most importantly, I will show you how to achieve the right proportions for a horse’s body.

If you’re an aspiring creature artist, you may know the struggle of trying to draw a head in a specific view from imagination. It’s so easy to lose the proportions when adding all the details to some crazy 3D view! Even if you study hundreds of photos, you may still have trouble imagining the 3D form of what you’re drawing.

Fantastic creatures may not be real, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be drawn in a realistic way. If you want to learn how to draw a dragon, in this tutorial I will lead you step by step. You can also use the tutorial to create a base for your own dragon, with the details of your own choosing. Muscles, wings, claws, scales—this tutorial has it all!

The best thing about drawing is that it can be learned through… drawing. In this tutorial I will show you how to draw a realistic lion without too much theory or explanations—just a step-by-step process that will teach you a few useful things about drawing animals from scratch. You can also use this technique to draw other big cats!